Chase
by Jennifier D
Summary: [FujiRyo] "Let's date."


**Author's notes:**   
It's strange how I'm back in the anime and manga fandom again. And the stranger part is, working on Tennis no Ohjisama fanfics ^^ Well, it is true when they say you can't get a fandom as clean as PoT, but I guess it should be mostly the animating team's fault. The anime held far much more UST and what not than the manga. And no, I'm not seeing things :D

**Warning and Disclaimers: **  
Material for the fanfic was taken from both the anime and the manga, which might cause a little confusion. In terms of Tezuka leaving Seigaku for treatment, I would be following the manga, because the anime had Ryoma playing against Tezuka again and that was totally unnecessary. Spoilers for the manga would be expected inside here, so if you are trying to avoid the spoilers, don't continue reading the fanfic. Certain situations may not be written in accordance with the character's innate personality, but this is a fanfic. Fanfiction authors write fanfics, and fanfics are subjected to the opinions of their authors. And lastly, this is a yaoi fanfic :D All who are looking for anything that is not yaoi and FujiRyo will have to look elsewhere too, since that pairing and yaoi is all you'll find here.

**Edit:** Before I forgot. The idea of Fuji defeating Tezuka to keep Ryoma's attention is kindly offered by Hypertia :D Many thanks to her for helping work out that kink!

  
Date Started: 050603

-----

  
**Chase**  
by  
Jennifier D.

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


'It's not over yet.'

It was strange how Fuji, despite having his eyes closed most of the time, was so sharply aware of the world around him. It was strange how he could often second-guess what people were thinking about. Maybe the strangest part was how, during their school matches, he would lose to Tezuka every single time.

It wasn't as if Fuji was inferior to Tezuka, in any manner. Granted, he played a style of tennis which was acutely different from anyone else's... but he wasn't called the prodigy for nothing. Since the day he met Fuji, Ryoma had this rather insistent nagging feeling at the back of his head. That, regardless of what happened, Fuji was the last person you would want as your enemy.

Of course, Fuji would have been a worthy opponent, and a good source of experience had he been just as driven about tennis the way Tezuka was. It was infuriating to note, sometimes, that this person had all the skills and abilities to become a national player, to play against some of the strongest players in the century... But he chose not to. He chose not to do a lot of things which he could have easily accomplished, had he set his heart to it.

Maybe it was a fickle-mindedness on his part. Or the fact that he was playing tennis for fun.

Ryoma recognised and acknowledge Fuji's skills and cunning wit. He was a sharp one. A sly one too. He could deliver unforeseen sharp corners and painful experiences for those who were unwary of his smiling face. Nobody ever took Fuji seriously, despite the fact that he smiled enough on normal occasions to be rated dangerous. An innocent smiling face. That was all it took.

Ryoma knew this. And he was wary of it. Of someone, whose daggers were all hidden behind his smiles.

'That's why it's not over yet. Our match is not over yet.'

There was no way Ryoma would allow Fuji to forget about the match they didn't manage to finish, due to an inappropriately timed rainfall. It was almost as if the sky was against him, even. And right when he was going to turn the tables on his sempai too! Ryoma was sure, no, he _knew_ that if given a couple of sets more, he could defeat Fuji. But he wouldn't be satisfied, yet. Because there was no way he could ever return Fuji's triple counter, except by faulting them. And that fact had been the cause of much unhappiness. Maybe, one of these days, he would develop a way of countering them. A way of returning them. He would like to see all smiles vanish from Fuji's face during their match.

'Take it seriously.' Ryoma wanted to tell the constantly smiling tennis prodigy. 'Be serious when you play a match against me, Fuji-sempai.'

Ryoma looked up from his musings, disgruntled. He glanced over to where Fuji was standing beside Tezuka, the both of them observing a match in silence. Fuji was smiling. Like always.

Almost as if sensing Ryoma's stare, the gentle-looking tennis player turned and gave the younger boy his trademark smile.

Silence.

Ryoma stared for a moment longer before closing his eyes, leaning back against the tree. When he opened his eyes again, Fuji had already turned his attention back to the match, and was murmuring to Tezuka in a low voice, his ever-present smile in place. 

Tezuka. Fuji.

For the moment, he would focus on Tezuka. Because he had not found a way to defeat that boy. And he knew, he was sure, that there must be some way for him to defeat Tezuka. It would be like defeating his baka oyaji. Almost.

Even so, he would still have Fuji.

As long as Fuji failed to complete that match with him... as long as he couldn't devise a way to return the tensai's triple counter, he would not rest.

Not yet.

After all, he always saved the most interesting for the last, didn't he? There would always be plenty of interesting people, strong players coming along with the notion of defeating him. In this way, Ryoma was pretty sure that he wouldn't be bored for quite a while yet.

A small smirk, and he lowered his head. "Mada mada dane."

  
-----

  
Amusing.

Thinking back upon the match which he lost to Echizen, it was almost amusing to note that it had been just a practice match between the regulars. It wasn't even a serious match. They weren't playing to win tournaments. At least, he started the match with that notion in mind... Heh. A practice match, indeed.

Fuji found himself using far much more concentration and skills than he originally planned to. Indeed, Echizen Ryoma wasn't someone to be slighted. When he witnessed more and more players being defeated by Echizen, he began to understand the way the younger boy worked, and the reasons behind his determination. He began to recognise Echizen's stubborn attitude, when it came to facing opponents he knew he had just the slimmest chance of defeating.

It was admirable. 

The type of courage, perseverance and faith he had in tennis... to someone like Fuji, who was naturally talented at playing tennis, it had been incredibly amusing. Of course, when he first met Tezuka, he was just as amused by Tezuka's style of playing. It was amazing. He had never met anyone like Tezuka before, and that was when they were still thirteen. Now, the both of them were fifteen, and Fuji no longer remembered the number of matches he lost to Tezuka.

Maybe, a lot of people would say that Tezuka was pretty much invincible in Seigaku. He was the number one singles player in the school team, after all. Of course Fuji knew that. And Fuji lacked the drive which drove most of the regulars in the team on. Oh sure, he liked winning. It was fun. It was even more fun to watch his opponents struggle. But Tezuka wasn't the type of opponent who would give you an idea of his state of mind during a match. And that had been a very big killjoy. Soon after, Fuji decided that since this was how Tezuka worked, he would play by his rules. After all, the ball was in Tezuka's court. He was the team captain. And this meant that a certain measure of dignity had to be preserved.

With Tezuka's presence in the Seigaku team, along together with the other regulars, one could say that Seigaku was pretty formidable all on their own already. And Fuji believed in that. Tezuka's leadership was something which Fuji had never seen at anywhere else before. Despite all that, most of them were preparing themselves for that year's Kantou nationals with a certain level of apprehension. They knew they _might_ not make it to the finals. It was kind of impossible, with only a few aces on their team. They knew they could depend on Tezuka and Fuji to secure their first and second singles. And the Golden Pair to secure their first doubles. But that left them vulnerable in third singles and second doubles. And if they face a team that was strong enough, one of their aces could be defeated.

That was the same fear everyone had, until someone appeared.

And that someone was Echizen Ryoma.

After Tezuka, Echizen had to be the first person who made Fuji want to open his eyes and see him clearly. There was something about the boy... that screamed 'Look at me!'

That had been intriguing. Because other than Tezuka, Fuji had never met anyone like Echizen. Even so, Tezuka was more of a brooding presence than anything else, most of the time. The one hurtling into their lives and the school team like an unstoppable cannon... that would be Echizen. His appearance made a number of regulars open their eyes and looked for the first time. Not literally, of course... but his appearance alone suddenly kicked Seigaku into life and made everyone's blood start pumping with fervour and enthusiasm. He was like a catalyst... ahh, maybe 'catalyst' wasn't the right word to describe him. Inui, Kaidou and Momoshirou were shaken awake by Echizen when they lost to him. The impact on their egos was tremendous. But at the same time -unlike a catalyst which would remain unchanged- Echizen was changing. He was getting better, all the time. He was getting stronger, too. Smarter, sharper and impossibly faster.

Fuji liked him.

He like Echizen's stubborn nature, which was almost like Yuuta's. He liked Echizen's passion for the game, and his wit. He liked the sharpness one could find in that small boy; so much that one thought, one of these days, he was going to cut himself on his own sharpness.

But it was still too early to tell, and already, Fuji knew that he liked this boy. It couldn't possibly be any other emotion... from the day the boy stepped into the school tennis courts and caused a ruckus in the school team... he knew he would be the correct person. After all, Yuuta couldn't possibly stay by his side for forever, could he? He would have to get married, have children, and pursue more practical dreams. Sooner or later, Yuuta would have to stop chasing his Oniisan. Because Fuji would not want to wish this upon his own brother-- he would not want his younger brother to live with the ambition of beating his own brother at tennis for the rest of his life. It would be a poor ambition and he would head nowhere with it. But at the moment, for the time being, it was still okay.

It was fine. Fuji wanted to entertain his brother, anyway.

Echizen Ryoma.

Now that one was a different issue entirely.

And Fuji certainly couldn't wait to delve under the strange, egotistical demeanour of the younger boy. He couldn't wait to crack that shell... No, that would be wrong. It was more like... he couldn't wait to remove Echizen's guarded reactions towards him. Breaking him would remove all the fun. After all, how fun would a broken toy be? Echizen might not necessarily be a toy, but until Fuji had found something more interesting, Echizen would do. Fuji wanted to get to know him so well, the two of them would be rendered inseparable. He wanted Echizen to become part of his life, and himself to become part of the other's life in return. It didn't seem so impossible, did it? After all, it was just simple adoration. And fondness. And maybe a slight bit of infatuation, too. Ahh, yes. Of course Fuji knew that he liked Ryoma. If it was not affection... what else could he be currently feeling, then?

"What are you looking at, Fuji-sempai?" Echizen muttered from underneath his cap. Fuji had been standing still at the doorway to their locker room for the past few minutes, staring at the younger boy with a distant look in his eyes.

"Ahh, it's nothing."

Echizen shrugged. It was the same old reply Fuji gave him every time, anyway. The smaller boy seemed to think about something for a moment, then paused and raised his racket, pointing it at Fuji in a slightly challenging manner.

"Ne, Fuji-sempai... would you like to play a match?"

For the briefest of moments, Fuji seemed surprised by Echizen's question-- before giving the other a wide smile in reply.

"That might be fun."

  
-----

  
Momoshirou glanced over, observing the tree which Ryoma liked to nap underneath, feeling the slightest stabs of jealousy. Ever since Tezuka went away to Kyuushuu for treatment, Ryoma had fallen into some kind of slump. Maybe slump wasn't the right word to describe his state of mind... annoyed seemed more like it. Everyone knew that Ryoma wanted to defeat Tezuka. There was a private match between the both of them a while back and of course, Tezuka won the match.

Ever since that match, Ryoma started making himself stronger, better, than any of the players he met on the courts. He wanted to become stronger than he was before. And that was a lot, coming from Ryoma. The boy's adaptability and skills far exceeded most of them. Although Seigaku had a rather formidable team of regulars, the only ones who were really playing by national level standards were Tezuka, Ryoma, the Golden Pair, and possibly, Fuji.

It was often difficult to tell with Fuji.

Fuji was one big enigma on his own. It was difficult to second guess the genius, and even Inui had mentioned that trying to obtain accurate data from Fuji seemed like a technical impossibility. He simply had no flaws. What one would and could assume as his flaws often turned out to be a lie. But the problem with Fuji was-- he wasn't keen to play on national level, unlike Ryoma, Tezuka and the Golden Pair.

But lately, Fuji had been playing against Ryoma. Without Tezuka around, Ryoma had, of course, latched onto the next strongest opponent in Seigaku whom he had yet to defeat. And the most surprising thing was, private or public matches alike, the two of them were pitting the best of their skills against each other. Like the very first time the two of them played a match against each other, Momoshirou liked to think that Ryoma would eventually win the matches. But as it turned out, the truth was far from that. Despite his three famous returns, Fuji was still as unpredictable as ever.

And for once, Ryoma seemed satisfied. A few loses, a few wins... the unpredictability was making the younger boy more and more driven about defeating Fuji totally. And due to this, the two boys had grown closer and closer... which resulted in what we had now.

Fuji and Ryoma, sitting under a tree snoozing.

It would have been amusing to most of the Seigaku team, who were used to watching Ryoma nap when there was a lack of more interesting things to do... but watching Fuji do that had seemed a little strange. Usually, Fuji would be standing beside Tezuka, observing the matches that were going on. It was almost like... an unsaid agreement between the both of them. And well, now everyone had their guards up, of course. Who knew what Fuji might want to do next?

One could almost say that, without Tezuka around, the two prodigies of their team had turned their attention to each other. It made Momoshirou wonder if it was a good thing or not, actually. He wondered briefly too, if Tezuka would be annoyed at the two of them when he did return eventually. Everyone had slowly been noticing the fact that... Tezuka was trying to groom Ryoma into the next 'pillar' of Seigaku, like he had been. And what Fuji was doing with Ryoma now... could be a little detrimental, he guess. Although Ryoma did mention before that he had aimed higher than Fuji, maybe higher than Tezuka, in fact, in terms of standards... but he was only playing at around Fuji's standards currently. It might be good or bad. Maybe more bad than good? Momoshirou wasn't very sure. After all, in terms of the level of skills and abilities, despite being repeatedly defeated by Tezuka, Fuji went far deeper than anyone could guess. And that type of unpredictability... one could never be sure if one was playing against him at his full level, or not.

Fuji was the type of well which... after dropping a stone into it, you would never hear it hit the bottom. He was _that_ deep. And who knew if he really did lose to Tezuka or not? What if he was being his usual harmless (or more like harmful, in Momoshirou's opinion) self by losing those matches against their buchou? Their buchou had a reputation to maintain, after all. And the both of them did know each other very well. Fuji had never expressed any interest in terms of defeating the buchou totally, anyway. It simply wasn't a matter of concern to him, Momoshirou felt.

Which brought him back to the rather complicated and slightly worrying issue at hand.

Fuji and Ryoma.

So, what was going on exactly? Nobody was sure.

Momoshirou turned to glance at the two boys again, and was surprised to find Fuji smiling at him, already awake. Ryoma was still asleep; he was leaning against Fuji, head resting on his left shoulder, cap pulled low. The two of them would have looked incredibly endearing had the person who was sitting beside Ryoma not been Fuji. Maybe, to anybody who was just passing by, to anyone who had no knowledge of Seigaku's tensai player Fuji... it would have been really sweet. Even Sakuno had said so.

But Momoshirou knew better.

And at any rate, wasn't he supposed to be the one who napped with Ryoma often? Since when did Fuji replace him?

"Still watching them nya?" Kikumaru's knowing look made Momoshirou flinch, slightly.

The other boy shrugged. "I just thought they looked..."

"...incredibly cute together." Kikumaru grinned at him, cat-like.

"Eh..."

"Maa~ I've never seen Fuji this serious nyan."

A curious look.

"Don't you know?" The most hyperactive member of their team laced his fingers together and placed the palms against the back his head with an innocent look. "Fuji never plays tennis at this level of seriousness. But ever since he started playing regularly against Ochibi-chan nya..."

Momoshirou nodded. "I know."

Both of them turned to glance at Fuji and Ryoma again.

Fuji smiled. Kikumaru returned his smile with a cat-like look on his face.

"Ganbatte nyan~ Momochan..."

  
-----

  
"Fuji, don't distract him."

That was all Tezuka said when he met Fuji again after the tournaments ended. Apparently the buchou had recovered from his injuries, but he wasn't allowed to play tennis for a period of time, yet. To say the truth, Fuji kind of missed having Tezuka around. He was the slave driver of the team, after all. And although Oishi was just as tough as Tezuka when it came to training, it had somehow lacked a certain punch.

Fuji was intrigued. What had Tezuka meant by 'Don't distract him?' Was he distracting Echizen, actually? Fuji would like to think that the both of them were doing a good job at riling each other up, actually. And at the rate they play tennis, it was amazing how the both of them had yet to made their way to the nationals yet.

But of course, there was never a perfect situation. Now that Tezuka had returned from Kyuushuu... like the snap of an elastic band which was released from being held in tension for far too long, Echizen's attention had shifted. He was more or less sure of how far he could go with Fuji now, at any rate. And since Tezuka was back, he had recovered already, this meant that Echizen could get down to defeating the former buchou of Seigaku again. Normally, Fuji would encourage it, since all sorts of entertainment were welcomed when there were so few things to interest him now. The tensai was surprised to find slight feelings of jealousy. And saa... general unhappiness. He was still trying to figure what had gone wrong at where.

He would admit that his attachment to Echizen was far from normal. But he liked it. And what he liked, he would like to encourage it to continue to grow. Who knew what might come out of this, at the end of the day?

"Fuji?" Fuji turned from where he was staring out of the window, already wearing his usual smile.

"Do you know why I told you not to distract Echizen?"

The smiling boy's facial expression didn't change. "Ahh. I think I might need some enlightenment from you on this, Tezuka."

"I want Echizen to become the 'pillar' of Seigaku. Just like how I am the 'pillar' of Seigaku now. I'm sure you can see that as well as me."

Ahh. Tezuka. What more could one expect from him? Like Echizen, tennis was the only thing which ever dominated his mind. On some days, Fuji couldn't help wondering if that was like a double-edged sword. Living, breathing, dreaming, only for tennis. And when all those were taken away from you, all dreams were shattered, all hopes smashed, one would be left vulnerable and weak. One wouldn't be able to survive at all. That was why Fuji never paid that much attention on tennis. It would be pointless to waste so much effort and energy on a dream which may shatter, sooner or later. Because all of them were professional players, because all of them trained with regularity and tenacity, the chances of injury were always there. And Fuji knew that should he suffer an injury as serious as Tezuka's, he wouldn't really want to play tennis again.

That was why he admired Tezuka and Echizen for their faith in the game.

Nothing ever seemed to take them down. At least, nothing seemed to ever take them down for long. Soon enough, the both of them were the type who would be up and about again, going around turning the tables.

"Sou," Fuji smiled at Tezuka. "I think that will be a good idea."

"It is," Tezuka was no longer paying attention to Fuji, but was staring out of the window as well, watching Echizen practice his serves. "When I leave Seigaku, he will take over the position of team captain. And he would have a lot of work to do."

The tensai was quiet, his smile the only indication of his opinion on the matter.

"Fuji," Tezuka began again, turning to stare at the smiling boy. "I don't know what you are trying to do, but don't distract him from reaching his full potential."

"Maa maa, Tezuka... of course I won't do that." Fuji opened his eyes and stared. Sometimes, the blueness of his eyes was so sharp, it was stifling. "We wouldn't want Seigaku to fail now, would we? Especially after all the achievements we have made this year."

The team captain was silent about that matter. He didn't feel the need to comment on it, anyway.

"So, Tezuka..." Fuji began, then stopped. "How is your arm?"

"It has recovered totally."

"Ahh." The tensai smiled, sweet. "So you're fit enough to play matches again?"

Tezuka turned to gaze at Fuji, the dispassionate look on his face strangely disconcerting. "Nn. But not for long periods of time."

"I see," Fuji continued smiling at Tezuka, then turned to glance out of the window, his gaze pausing on Echizen's distant figure once again. "Would you mind if I have a match with you? I think we can probably make it short, to lessen the burden on your arm."

The bespectacled boy stared, for a moment, before turning to step out of the locker room with his racket.

"Let's get started, then."

  
-----

  
'There is someone else in Ryoma's life.'

That was the first thing which came to Nanjirou's mind when Ryoma came home that day. He had a different look in his eyes. In the past, he was usually all burning with passion and determination to defeat the certain someone he had picked up in school. Now... he was calm. Almost sedated. And when he did ask for a match from Nanjirou, his playing styled had changed, slightly. It was softer than his usual style, but there was something much sharper, much deeper about his current playing method. Ryoma was a tennis player who worked by skills; his high adaptability and body motion vision helped him in almost all of the situations he faced. He frame was still small, and he would often be at a disadvantage when facing opponents who banked more on the strength of their returns and serves rather than the level of their skills. At any rate, it had become apparent that the level of Ryoma's skills was rising rather sharply.

Of course, his son would never do something as crass as to copy another's playing style, but he had been influenced, somehow. This must mean that Ryoma had been playing against the other rather frequently. He wondered briefly if that was a good thing. And just as Nanjirou was musing about this, Ryoma managed to break Nanjirou's zone playing and score a point.

"'Che. Baka oyaji." Ryoma muttered from where he was standing. "Stop fooling around. I don't plan to stand here the whole evening."

"Eh?" Nanjirou faked a surprised look at his son, then smirked. "Why? You've found a girlfriend? Going on a date? Is it that... girl from your school? Ryuzaki's granddaughter? Maa, I never knew-"

"Shut up." At this, Ryoma's face took on a frightening look. "I'm not interested in her."

"Ara..." The boy's father blinked, honestly surprised this time.

"Are we going to finish this game?"

"Ahh, sure..."

For the rest of the game, the concentration Ryoma showed was amazing. He had managed to break past Nanjirou's defences a few times, causing the older man to be piqued. He wondered... who could this new person be? He must be pretty good, to be able to drive his son to such extremes. Maybe, soon enough, he would have to play against Ryoma with his left hand. But now was not the time yet. It wasn't... right. Not yet.

Maybe he would have to meet that person first.

But this didn't mean that he accepted that person's presence in his son's life. If he proved to be damaging towards Ryoma's playing and caused his son to falter where he shouldn't, that person would have to go. Ryoma was his son. If he wanted his son to play all his way towards the nationals, he would jolly well do so. Nobody would be allowed to break Ryoma's concentration towards the game.

Another of Ryoma's balls sped pass Nanjirou, unchecked, and he turned to regard his son with the same old smirk.

"You're playing better today."

It was impossible to tell what kind of expression Ryoma had on his face underneath that cap.

"I have to."

Curious, but not willing to push the issue, Nanjirou shrugged.

Ryoma raised his head, hazel eyes flashing as he stared at his father. There was something new in his eyes. Something... new and fierce and strangely possessive.

"I've met a very strong opponent. He had me running around in circles for the moment, but it will stop. I will end it. I'll defeat him. I'll get stronger. I want to become stronger than him."

Nanjirou fell silent, returning his son's stare.

And the wind -sighing as it passed through the empty temple grounds- together with Nanjirou, were the only witnesses of Ryoma's declaration of war.

  
-----

  
'Fuji.' 

It was infuriating. The other was infuriating. Beyond infuriating, in fact. He was almost like a menace.

Whenever Ryoma thought about him, he would get incredibly annoyed. For as long as Ryoma had known Fuji and Tezuka, for about as long as everyone had known the both of them... everyone believed that Tezuka was the better player of the two. After all, why would Fuji lose to him every time, then? Even Ryoma wanted to believe that Tezuka was the stronger one, because the team captain reminded him of his father far too frequently.

But Momoshirou had warned him before.

When Momoshirou noticed how Ryoma and Fuji were growing closer, for all the wrong reasons, perhaps, he had pulled Ryoma aside and spoke to him.

'Don't cross his path.'

It had sounded amusing back then, when Momoshirou said it. Did he honestly think that Fuji was as threatening as everyone who seemed to think he was? Granted, when Fuji smiled constantly, it had been something which irked Ryoma a little... because it felt like the tensai was smiling at some joke which only he knew. And Ryoma refused to believe in anything other than what his own eyes told him. If he didn't trust his own eyes, what else could he trust? From what he could see... especially of those matches between Fuji and Tezuka, the buchou was clearly the stronger player.

Maybe Tezuka's injury was a lot more serious than everyone had thought. After all, Fuji played against Tezuka only after he returned from his treatment in Kyuushuu. Maybe... maybe Tezuka hadn't recovered fully.

But that wouldn't be correct.

Tezuka wasn't the type of foolish player who would pit his own health against another for the sake of keeping his ego intact. Especially when he knew that he was down for the count and he would lose anyway. And the match didn't last for long, even. Twenty minutes and it was over, Fuji leaving the courts with only the slightest glimmer of sweat on his brow. Maybe the others had never noticed, but Ryoma did. He noticed that after every single training of theirs, after Inui had driven them to almost their extremes by the number of laps they did, the speed at which they were running, the time constraints they were give... Tezuka and Fuji were the only two regulars who weren't down on their knees panting and wheezing, trying to recover their lungs and breath.

It would have been downright alarming had Ryoma not been used to such sights.

And then, that had happened.

After Tezuka came back to Tokyo... after he had supposedly recovered totally and returned from his treatment, he played a game against Fuji and lost. That had been a shock for most of the Seigaku regulars. But the nationals were over, there was no need for them to train that seriously anymore, and Tezuka did suffer a serious injury, after all... The buchou would be leaving the school team in a couple of months or so anyway, since their graduation was close. In fact, that was what Ryoma thought about back then, when Tezuka was defeated by Fuji.

That was what he wanted to believe in, anyway.

He wanted to defeat Fuji. That was what he told his father. Not in such precise terms, of course, but the intention had been the same. But, inevitably, as he continued playing against Fuji, the closeness between the both of them had been drawn to a point where Ryoma was slowly beginning to notice how he would spend most of his time in school playing against Fuji. If he didn't have a class to go to, and after classes were over... one could almost always find him in the courts, warming up, waiting for Fuji, or playing against Fuji. Horio had remarked that Ryoma seemed almost possessed, in his determination to break Fuji's defences and defeat him utterly.

But all that would be coming to an end, soon.

Today would be Fuji's last day in Seigaku Junior High. Like the rest of the third year Seigaku regulars, he would be heading for Seigaku High next year. And this meant that Ryoma's chances of playing against him would be lessened.

'This is not healthy, Ryoma.'

That had probably been the only sensible advice Horio gave him in the full year they shared a class together. He _knew_ it wasn't healthy. But he couldn't stop himself. It was almost like scratching at a scab, despite knowing that it'd hurt and there would be scars. He couldn't help it.

"Echizen...?"

Ryoma looked up from where he was gazing out of the window in the locker room, strangely quiet. There was nobody in the locker room, except for him. Fuji was standing at the doorway, still dressed in his uniform, the bag holding his tennis rackets slung over a shoulder. He wore the same annoying smile, which seemed innocent and harmless. But Ryoma knew better, of course.

The two boys remained staring at each other for a moment longer before Fuji's smile widened and he stepped into the locker room, closing the door behind himself. Outside the room, the both of them could hear the faint cries of 'Seigaku! Fight! Fight! Fight!' as the other members of the tennis team trained. All the regulars were excused from practice today, since the Seigaku team consisted of mostly third year students, and they wanted to hold a small farewell party at Kawamura's sushi restaurant.

"Are you going?"

Ryoma looked up, quietly staring. He shrugged.

Fuji came to a stop before Ryoma, and it almost felt like the older boy was hesitating, for the briefest of moments. "Ne, Echizen..."

Even as Ryoma lifted his head to stare at Fuji, he could feel the other boy's soft fingertips sliding through his hair, brushing against his scalp lightly. He couldn't understand the meaning behind the other's action, but he wasn't going to ask at the moment. He was in a bad mood anyway. Thinking about surviving two more years in Seigaku Junior High with no Fuji and Tezuka to play against was putting him in a considerable foul mood.

He frowned. "Hm?"

A soft smile, and Fuji's fingers slide down the side of Ryoma's face in a quick, gentle motion, eventually resting lightly against the tip of his proud chin.

"Let's date."

And Fuji kissed him.

  
Date Completed: 120603  
Date Revised: 120603


End file.
